Dormitory fire at Kenyan girls’ school kills at least 16 students

A fire ripped through a dormitory at Utumishi girls academy in Gilgil, Nakuru county, about 76 miles north-west of Nairobi, breaking out just after midnight. At least 16 students were killed and the education minister, Julius Migos Ogamba, said 79 others were injured; 71 of them have already been discharged from hospital.

Students at the school are between 15 and 18, and about 220 girls were sleeping in the dormitory when the blaze started on the building’s second floor. Doors on that floor were initially locked and some girls died while jumping out of the windows, a first responder said.

Multiple survivors told first responders that a student had lit a mattress with a match, the first responder told Reuters; they did not know what the student’s motive may have been. The Kenyan Red Cross said the blaze in Gilgil was reported at about 3.30am on Thursday.

Kenya, Gilgil, Nakuru County

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